No… No, I’m not falling asleep… Not…
Gerard found the internal argument slightly amusing, though fatal. He was definitely falling asleep, and he knew it too.
His dreams were unusual, mostly because he never dreamed. Ever. Most vampires didn’t; there was nothing unusual for their brains to register overnight.They were all taunting him.
Sexless voices ringing in his ears and…
“Gerard, what do you wanna be when you grow up?”
What?
“A firefighter?”
“This can’t be right.”
“I wanna be a vampire, Gerard. See? Look at the cape mommy made me.”
No…
Mikey, don’t… no, don’t say that…
“Gerard? Gerard… Look, its choking me… ow. Stop Gerard.”
Please don’t say that… Mikey.
Choking…
Choking, what?!
Oh no…
Gerard felt a burning sensation creeping up his throat. It was like fingers. Choking him. He couldn’t breathe.
“Gerard!”
Adam’s voice startled him from sleep.
He couldn’t see. There was a weight on his chest and, yes, fingers curling around his neck.
Gerard shoved whatever was on top of him off onto the ground.
It hissed and Gerard scrambled to his feet, eyes adjusting in a millisecond and fangs gleaming at the corners of his mouth.
It was Frank.
His hair was shorter and his skin paler. Blood leaked from his eyes and his mouth was red as well.
Gerard gripped his arms as he flung himself toward him, teeth sinking into his shoulder and fingers clawing into his shirt.
His breathing was almost inaudible.
“Gerard!” he yelled, “All your fucking fault.”
He gasped in another desperate breath and stumbled backwards away from Gerard, spitting crimson onto the cement.
He wiped his mouth and fumbled behind his back for a moment. He was on Gerard again and this time, a knife dug into Gerard’s chest and dragged its way down his ribcage. Gerard growled, but his hands were pinned up by Frank’s arms, so instead, he latched his teeth onto Frank’s jaw, biting down hard.
Blood stained everything. He could see Adam cowering in the corner.
“Don’t do this Frankie…” he mumbled into the bone clamped between his teeth.
Frank’s blade dug deeper into Gerard’s chest and suddenly Gerard cried out, gripping his fingers into the car hood he was pressed back against, denting the metal.
The knife was up to the handle in Gerard’s skin, and Frank’s hand was covered in metallic smoking liquid; it was melting.
Frank pulled his hand back as the last inch that was left of the knife clattered to the floor.
“Gerard?”
Frank’s voice held a fraction of the innocence and confusion it had years before.
Gerard’s eyes dilated and before his pupils shrunk into tiny slits. His hands grabbed at Frank’s shirt for a moment before dropping to his sides.
His chest heaved in invisible breaths, but eventually gave up.
“Get away from him.”
Frank was shoved aside by Ryan, who, even though he was a nerd, wasn’t as much of a coward as Adam, and for good reason.
“Gerard… Gerard, c’mon, sir…” he muttered, slapping Gerard’s face lightly.
By that time, Adam was inching from the floor till he got safely past Frank, then propelling himself forward to crash against the side of the car.
Gerard’s shirt was torn open for the second time that day. Ryan pulled something from his bag. It was a small box with wires stemming out.
Gerard’s fingers clenched deeper in the metal and he let out a whimpering choke, tears of pain running down his cheeks.
Ryan laid him down on the hood of the car and stuck the wires under his blackening skin.
While holding the rectangle down, he used his other hand to reach into his bag and take out a paper packet, ripping it open with his teeth. It was an alcohol saturated wipe.
A minute later he had injected Gerard with an unknown substance, and was using the box to try and pump out most of Gerard’s blood from his system.
Adam watched in disgust.
“Ryan, he’s dead.”
“No, he’s not. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“For one thing, you were unconscious. Second, I didn’t think you were this “experienced”.”
Ryan snorted and moved Gerard to the ground.
“Get him.” He ordered, not looking up.
Adam stood confused for a minute before he got it, and picked up Gerard’s gun to aim at Frank.
Ryan was soaking up the blood from the hole in Gerard with wads of gauze, wiping his forehead with red-stained hands.
Adam looked on sullenly, not really paying attention to Frank, who suddenly looked weak.
Adam crawled over next to Ryan.
“I can’t get it all out.” Ryan said hopelessly.
“Suck it.” Adam said, a slight giggle in the statement.
“That would kill me.” Ryan said incredulously.
“That’s why I’m going to…” Adam answered after a few moments, silent apart from the dripping liquid from various body parts
Ryan paled.
“Adam, no.”
Adam ignored him and leaned over Gerard’s torso, bracing himself against Gerard’s shoulders. Ryan closed his eyes and leaned back against the car, shaking silently as Adam sucked the blood from Gerard’s chest.
It didn’t take long, since most of Gerard’s blood was spilled out onto the pavement around them. Once he knew Gerard was drained dry, he careened backwards and wiped his mouth, grinning sloppily at Ryan.
“Sorry, mate… I’m just a nobody…” he groaned, “Get him some blood.”
Ryan nodded and turned away. He left the side street and came back a minute later.
“Can’t find anyone.” He said.
Adam coughed, then looked thoughtful for a moment.
“You don’t try hard enough… But he can do it.” he said, pointing at Frank, “Bring them back to Justin, and he’ll know what to do, okay?”
Ryan bit his bottom lip and took a shaky breath.
“Ryan, please. Just save him.” Adam said quietly, and then leaned back again, staring at the brick wall.